Cosy Christmas
by Ashley Hammond Astro Yellow
Summary: Missing out on Christmas on Earth, Andros and Zhane have a surprise to cheer Ashley up. (A Sequel to Fuzzy Fantasies and Date-Night Decisions, but can be read separately.)


_Disclaimer_ _: Unfortunately… still not mine._

 _Summary_ _: Missing out on Christmas on Earth, Andros and Zhane have a surprise to cheer Ashley up._

 **Cosy Christmas**

Ashley sighed and pulled her coat tighter around her as she trudged through the snow to the front door. Even after moving to KO-35 four years ago, she was still getting used to the changing seasons. They were more drastic than she had grown up with. She wasn't built for the cold, though the boys had laughed at her when she first complained about it. They did try to make her love the winter as much as they did, but the numb fingers, frozen toes and runny nose just wasn't for her.

She keyed open the door and a blast of warm air greeted her. On the mat she tried to stamp the snow off her boots as best as she could, before trying to pull them off without losing her balance too much. On socked feet she walked further into the hall and started pulling off the layers of outer clothing designed to keep her warm. Ashley sneezed as she hang up her coat.

She cursed under her breath. Just what she needed, a cold when she was already feeling miserable. Whispered voices drifted from the living room, but she decided to forgo showing her face and made her way straight up the stairs. They knew she was home already, no need to tell them.

It was fifteen minutes later that she felt the bed beside her dip and an arm drape over her as a body pressed itself against her back.

'Hey,' a gentle voice greeted and she felt a kiss being pressed to her head through the comforter. 'Is the cold really making you that miserable?'

Ashley sighed and shook her head. The comforter was gently pulled from her head and she turned to catch the grey eyes staring at her.

'We're sorry we couldn't make it to Christmas with your family this year,' Zhane told her sincerely.

'It's not your fault,' Ashley offered him a weak smile. 'I guess I've been lucky we've been able to go spend the holidays with them these past years. It was bound to happen and it probably won't be the last time.'

'But you still miss them,' Zhane offered what she left unspoken.

'A little,' Ashley agreed. 'You're my family too and I love you guys to bits, but it's my first Christmas without them.'

'And on KO-35 we don't celebrate Christmas either,' Zhane grinned.

Ashley narrowed her eyes at him. She knew this grin. It meant Zhane was up to something. 'What did you do?'

'Come down? Andros is cooking dinner,' Zhane laughed.

Her stomach rolled at the thought of dinner, but she didn't let it show. 'Why do I get the feeling he offered to cook if you went up to get me?'

Zhane's laughter filled the air once more as he tried to give her an innocent look. 'Maybe because I can't cook to save my life and he's not good at dealing with emotions stuff?'

Ashley laughed at the accuracy of that statement. Zhane used her distraction to pull her out of bed and escorted her downstairs. She sniffed the air, the delicious scent now making her stomach rumble. Zhane pushed her in front of him when they reached the bottom of the stairs and covered her eyes with his hands.

'Okay, what are you up to?' Ashley demanded.

'You'll see,' Zhane's breath was warm in her ear. 'Walk.'

She did as she was told, trusting Zhane not to lead her into any walls. Zhane stopped and she halted with him. A moment later his hands disappeared from her eyes and she gasped in surprise, tears springing into her eyes.

The table was set for three with a small feast to feed at least double that. Two candles flickered between the food. Andros was standing somewhat nervously beside her chair. She raised a hand to cover her mouth as she took in the rest of the scene and a tear fell from her eye.

In the corner of the room stood a decorated Christmas tree. The air was missing the undertone of the pine scent, she realised. And pines didn't grow on KO-35, she reminded herself. So she wondered how they managed it, but wasn't about to complain. A few presents were scattered under the tree. The lights in the room were dimmed and a few more candles were placed around the room.

Ashley glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of Zhane's proud smirk. 'Like it?' he asked her.

She just nodded and gave him a quick peck on the lips before moving further into the room and to Andros. Without a word she gave him a longer, lingering kiss. He smiled at her when she drew back and pulled out her chair.

Zhane pouted at her as he took his seat. 'I did just as much work as him, why does he get the longer kiss?'

'I love him more,' Ashley replied innocently. Andros laughed and Zhane's pout grew more pronounced. 'Hey, I did marry the both of you, didn't I?' she winked, blowing Zhane a slow kiss with her left hand, so the silver band around her finger caught the light of the candles.

'I guess,' Zhane grinned back at her. 'Mash?'

A few hours later Ashley sat curled up on the couch, wrapped in a blanket with a steaming mug of hot chocolate in her hands. Andros and Zhane were leaning against her on either side, adding their body heat to keep her warm. A corny Christmas movie was being projected on the wall.

'Thank you,' she whispered. 'This is the best Christmas away from Christmas that I ever had.'

'You're welcome,' Andros whispered back as the holographic tree flickered again for a moment.

'Yeah, just don't expect us to do this for every silly Terran holiday,' Zhane added. 'We noticed how the cold has been getting to you these past few weeks and since you didn't get your California escape from the snow this year, we figured it was the least we could do to cheer you up.'

'What?' Ashley asked confused.

'You think we hadn't noticed you've been feeling under the weather for a while?' Andros laughed, pressing a kiss to her hair. 'You always get a little grumpy when winter comes around. Not feeling too well can't be helping that.'

Ashley's eyes widened slightly when she caught on and a smile formed on her lips. 'Yeah, I guess you're right. But at least I have two gorgeous men to take care of me.'

'And don't you forget it,' Zhane grinned, placing a kiss on her cheek before settling himself more comfortably against her and pillowed his head on her shoulder.

Andros wrapped his arm around her shoulders, his hand playing with Zhane's hair. Ashley snuggled into the embrace and their attention turned back to the movie. By the time the end titles rolled around, Zhane's soft snores drifted through the room. Much to the amusement of the other two curled up on the couch.

'I think it's past his bedtime,' Andros whispered in Ashley's ear. She giggled and turned her head, taking the opportunity to enjoy a long taste of his lips.

They pulled back breathlessly and rested their foreheads together. 'How about you take him to bed and I'll clean up here?' Ashley suggested.

'This whole thing was designed to pamper you,' Andros protested a little.

'Consider me pampered,' Ashley smiled. 'But it's the least I can do. Especially since you're better at manhandling Zhane upstairs when he's half asleep.'

'True,' Andros agreed. 'But are you really sure about cleaning up? I could do it before waking Zhane.'

'Positive,' Ashley nodded. 'It's only a few mugs and blowing out some candles. You two have done much more already.'

'Okay,' Andros sighed and gave her another quick kiss before getting up from the couch. He grabbed Zhane's arm and started pulling him to his feet. 'Wakey, wakey, mister lumberjack, time to go to bed for your beauty sleep. You can continue cutting down that forest upstairs.'

Zhane blearily blinked open his eyes, squinting at his surroundings. Andros pulled one arm around his shoulders and wrapped his arm around Zhane's waist. 'Come on, one foot in front of the other,' he encouraged.

They left the room slowly, followed by Ashley's peals of laughter. She got up from the couch herself and folded the blanket before gathering the mugs. When she returned from the kitchen she made her way around the room, blowing out the few candles that were still burning. In the dark room she turned to the holographic Christmas tree. She knew she should turn it off, but couldn't bring herself to do it. Her eye fell on the presents underneath it. Her mind drifted back to Christmas two years ago when Andros and Zhane had hid engagement rings beneath the tree at her parents' house.

It had taken her parents a while to get used to their daughter dating not one, but two guys, but they had. And when the two proposed to her, they'd been just as excited to plan the wedding as Ashley was.

Ashley bit her lip and considered the presents some more. It was a really sweet gesture to organize a Christmas on KO-35 for her, but now she didn't have a present for them. Her eyes widened when a sudden thought struck her, a smile spreading on her lips.

A five minutes later she entered the bedroom. Zhane was already stretched out in bed, but Andros was still up waiting for her. Usually they switched around in their sleeping positions depending on who come to bed first and last. But during winter she always got to be in the middle and have two warm bodies surrounding her. She quickly changed into her pyjamas and crawled into bed, shivering.

'My toes are already freezing,' she complained, curling up to Zhane.

'You don't know freezing until you've been in cryogenic sleep,' Zhane muttered. 'This is nothing.'

Ashley shot a look over her shoulder at Andros and gave him a wink. Andros held in his laugh as she moved and pressed her cold feet against Zhane. He gave a little shriek and jerked away from her.

'I thought cryogenic sleep was worse?' Ashley laughed. Andros sniggered with her and Zhane glared at them.

'Not funny,' he pouted, but settled back down and allowed Ashley to curl up against him once more and pillow her head on his shoulder. Andros crawled into bed with them and settled against Ashley's back. 'Night you two,' Zhane grumbled. He received two muttered replies and the three of them slowly drifted to sleep.

Ashley woke up the next morning to find one side of the bed already empty. She turned over and nuzzled against the warm body that was still lying beside her. An arm wrapped around her and pulled her close, telling her he was awake as well, but not yet willing to leave their warm, comfortable position. Neither said a word and just enjoyed the peace and quiet of being in between sleep and fully awake.

Their peace was interrupted when the door was thrown open and a much too energetic Zhane burst into the room. 'Wake up!' he called. 'It's Christmas and I brought you breakfast in bed.'

The bed dipped and she felt Andros shift a little. 'You call that breakfast?'

Curiosity getting the better of her, Ashley opened her eyes and looked over her shoulder. She giggled at the tray Zhane was carrying. 'Hey, at least he didn't burn down the kitchen and poison us trying to serve breakfast, nor is it synthetron food,' she pointed out and sat up. 'Crackers is fine by me all things considered.'

'You'd better have planned to change the sheets today,' Andros grumbled. 'I'm not sleeping in a bed with crumbs in it.'

'Or you could sleep in the guestroom tonight and I'll have Zhane all to myself,' Ashley teased.

'Don't worry, Princess, I'll change the sheets later so you don't have to worry about any peas. I don't want Ashley waking up in the middle of the night complaining she's too cold,' Zhane assured him. 'But breakfast first, then presents, then changing the sheets.'

Ashley giggled and bit into her cracker. Andros and Zhane kept up the friendly bickering all through their meagre breakfast. The moment the last bite disappeared, Zhane jumped up. 'Come on, presents,' he exclaimed gleefully.

'Shouldn't you clean up?' Andros suggested. 'Or let us get dressed first?'

'Nope, I'll clean up when I'm changing the sheets,' Zhane shrugged as he rummaged through a set of drawers. A ball of socks sailed through the air and landed in Ashley's lap. 'So you don't freeze your toes off,' he called. 'Now get your robes and come downstairs already.'

They watched Zhane bounce out of the room and shook their heads. Ashley pulled the pair of fluffy red socks on her feet and smiled when she saw Andros holding up her robe. He helped her slip into it. Ashley gave him a quick kiss to thanks him, when Zhane's voice hollered from downstairs to hurry up already.

In the living room Zhane sat on the floor next to the Christmas tree, bouncing in his place. 'Took you long enough,' he grinned and tossed Andros the first present.

Andros and Ashley settled on either side of the couch. Ashley pulled the blanket she'd left there the night before over her legs as Andros started to unwrap his gift. He pulled out a leather bracelet knotted into an infinity sign. Ashley held out her hands to his and he allowed her to fit it around his wrist. Zhane smiled at them, before taking the next package and tore off the wrappings.

Ashley laughed when he scooted over and held out his arm. An identical bracelet to Andros's in his hand. She happily fitted it around Zhane's wrist and jumped a little when he tossed the next package into her lap before scooting back. Both men watched her intently as she slowly unwrapped her gift. She let out a soft gasp when she opened the box inside the paper and found a delicate charm bracelet nestled on a pillow. One charm was already attached, another infinity symbol.

'We figured it would match with ours, but be a bit more feminine,' Zhane offered as Andros pulled the box from her hands and fixed the bracelet around her wrist.

'I love it. Thank you so much, both of you,' Ashley smiled.

Zhane and Andros each had a present from the other to unwrap and Ashley got one more from each of her men. It was as Zhane lifted the last, largest package that he spotted two envelopes beneath it. One was labelled with his name, the other had Andros's on it.

'Hey, those weren't here last night when we set this up,' he commented.

'Give me my gift already, Zhane,' Ashley grinned. 'You can open them at the same time after I have opened this one.'

Zhane handed her the gift and watched her open it with one eye, continuously glancing at the mysterious envelopes every other second. Tears sprang into Ashley's eyes when she pulled out a large picture frame with a picture of both her families in it. It had been taken in Angel Grove park the last time they were on Earth, near where she'd celebrated her eighteenth birthday all those years ago. There had been a family day and one of her cousins had taken this picture for them. Her parents stood in the centre with Jeff and his girlfriend on one side and Ashley, Andros and Zhane on the other.

'So they'll always be here with us, even when we can't go visit,' Andros told her softly.

'Thank you,' Ashley whispered. 'Both of you. Thank you so much. Now, you may open those envelopes, but remember, open them together. I didn't know how I was going to tell you, but you just created the perfect moment to.'

Andros telekinetically pulled the envelope with his name over to him, while Zhane waited impatiently with his in his hand. They caught each other's eye and nodded before opening the envelopes. They pulled out identical pictures, a smile playing on Ashley's lips as she watched them. Zhane turned his head this way and that as he studied the picture, before starting to turn the picture around.

'What am I looking at, exactly?' he asked eventually, looking at Ashley with a quizzical expression.

Andros, on the other hand, sat frozen in his spot for a while. When he finally looked up, his eyes were wide and his mouth slightly handing open. 'Am I counting this right?' he whispered. 'Two?'

Ashley bit her lip and nodded.

'What am I missing?' Zhane demanded.

'It's a sonogram picture,' Andros explained, a grin starting to spread on his face.

Zhane just looked even more confused. Ashley decided to take pity on him. 'I'm pregnant, Zhane. We're going to be parents.' Zhane's eyes light up and he launched himself across the room to hug her. Ashley laughed and hugged him back. 'It's why I've been feeling under the weather lately. Just your average morning sickness and other pregnancy complaints.'

'How far along are you?' Zhane asked excitedly.

'Well, officially about six weeks,' Ashley smiled. 'But the doctor says there's some difference in gestation. One or two weeks tops.'

'Difference in gestation?' Zhane asked confused again.

Andros held up his picture and pointed at a blurry form. 'That's one amniotic sack,' he grinned and moved his finger. 'And that's two.'

'Twins?' Zhane whispered in amazement. 'So… who's the father?'

Ashley laughed and slapped him over the head. 'How should I know? And does it even really matter who donated the sperm for these little miracles? To me the both of you are equally as much the father of these two. And with the gestation difference, who knows, there might be one of each of you in there.'

Andros slid across the couch and gathered her into his arms. Zhane took the opportunity to wiggle himself between Ashley and the armrest to create a sandwich hug.

'And I thought we were surprising you,' Andros muttered into her hair as he caught Zhane's eye. 'Turns out you had an even better surprise for us.'

'Merry Christmas,' Ashley grinned in reply and nuzzled into his chest. She might be missing out on Christmas with her family on Earth, but this just might have turned out to be the best Christmas she ever had.

 _A/N: I've just returned from Christmas Mas, so I figured I'm finally allowed to post this story that has been born, written and finished some time ago. So Merry Christmas everyone! I'm dedicating this story to my dear friends: Arwennicole, Rosabelle317, Starlit Purple, Alexandra Khayman and Darkhonda._


End file.
